


come on and touch my frightened heart

by skvadern



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Altered Mental States, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Animalistic Vampires, Blood Drinking, Character Turned Into Vampire, F/F, Mutual Pining, Predator/Prey, Religious Undertones, Self-Sacrifice, Slow Burn, love and blood and hearts and gods, minor gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:07:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26571136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skvadern/pseuds/skvadern
Summary: In another world, Mr Ceiling mixed a little vampire blood into the chemicals it used to bring Sasha back from the dead. Not a lot, but enough. Enough to take root, to spread, toalter.In any world, Azu will do anything she can to help her friend.
Relationships: Azu/Sasha Racket
Comments: 18
Kudos: 34





	come on and touch my frightened heart

**Author's Note:**

> i have deadlines, yall. i have exchange fics. i have wips. instead i went massively feral about vampire sasha in the When In Rome server and this happened instead, n now yall get to profit off my mistakes.  
> the violence warning is currently for a scene where sasha attacks azu - she doesnt feed from her without consent - and hurts azu at first while drinking her blood. its only a couple paragraphs but if you'd rather give it a miss i get that.  
> title from please don't stop by carina round, tho this may be subject to change if i find something gayer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Maybe Azu’s being naïve, trusting a monster that could be inches from killing her. Or maybe her friend is still in there, behind those black eyes, and she needs Azu’s help._

Azu practically slams the door to her hotel room open, leaning heavily on it for a second before forcing herself to straighten. That fight had been unexpected and _hard_ , and the LOLOMG being responsible for most of the property damage meant they were responsible for helping with the clear-up. Azu hadn’t even noticed she was bleeding until Grizzop had pointed out the cut under her pauldron, and even then she hadn’t had the energy or concentration to heal it.

Now she’s regretting that, her arm and shoulder a steady ache; she’s regretting a lot of things, in a way that she’ll be ashamed of later. Sighing, Azu starts to work off her armour, piece by piece, forcing herself to tidy it away neatly. Her robe comes off next, leaving her in a sleeveless and thankfully un-bloodstained shift and trousers. The hotel maid looking after their rooms has left her a basin of water, and Azu washes the crusted blood off her arm carefully, before lathering up some of the soap in her pack and cleaning the rest of her as best she can. When she’s done, she piles the bloody part of her robe into the basin to soak – Hamid will clean it for her tomorrow, she’s sure, but it still feels wrong to not even try and get the stain out.

She’s just taking a deep breath, preparing herself to reach out to Aphrodite, when she hears the door click closed behind her. She starts to turn, but she’s not nearly fast enough.

A solid weight smacks into her with the force of a granite block, and Azu stumbles back into the wall. Her arm _throbs_ where it impacts, and the breath forced out of her lungs escapes as a pained wheeze.

She blinks hard, clearing the sudden tears of pain from her eyes, and sees… Sasha? Sasha, her new friend, with one arm like an iron bar across Azu’s chest, the other so tight around her wrist that Azu can feel the bones grinding. Dazed, uncomprehending, Azu trues to pull her arm out of Sasha’s grip, and Sasha _snarls_. Low and utterly deadly, a noise so inhuman it chills Azu to the core.

One night, she and her friends had slipped out of the village at night, planning to watch a comet pass. Azu remembers, suddenly, peeling away from the rest of the group for some stupid reason, and stumbling upon a leopard, crouched over an unmoving pile of fur. She can still picture its eyes glowing with moonlight, as it looked up bloody-mawed and locked gazes with her. Most leopards would run, too wary of the local orcs, but this one had stood over its kill and snarled long and threatening, and little Azu had backed away as slowly as she could, before turning and sprinting back home.

It feels like she’s back in that clearing, only now she’s the poor, unlucky creature trapped under the predator. The thought feels distantly absurd – she has more than a foot on Sasha, she’s a trained paladin – but the animal part of her brain is certain where the power lies here.

Carefully, slowly, Azu forces her muscles to relax, going limp in Sasha’s hold. She’s relieved when Sasha gives a pleased little huff, and her grip gets slightly less desperate, slightly less painful.

“Sasha?” Azu whispers, trying to piece this mad situation together. Something is _wrong_ with Sasha, obviously and horribly wrong. Is she cursed? No, one of them would have sensed that. Has Azu somehow managed to offend her? But no, she’s seen Sasha angry, and there’s nothing she can think of that would cause her to make that _noise._

Sasha doesn’t answer, but she does look up, meeting Azu’s eyes for a second – long enough for Azu to see that they’re entirely black, as if the dark brown iris and the whites have been swallowed by her pupils. She holds Azu’s gaze, so intent that her eyes _burn_.

Then those terrible eyes flick away again, honing in on the wound on Azu’s bicep. It’s bleeding again, slowly, from the cleaning and how roughly she’s just been handled. Sasha’s jaw works, her tongue darting out to wet her lips, and as her upper lip curls, Azu spots flecks of blood, a glint of something sharp and white nestled next to Sasha’s incisors. The human canines that should sit in those sockets are gone – when did Sasha lose them? It must have been recently – and slender fangs have begun to slide into their place.

A lot of things come together very quickly, and Azu sucks in a shocked gasp.

Instantly, Sasha’s burning eyes are back on her face, searching for any sign that Azu’s going to try and fight her. Azu stares back, noticing how drawn Sasha’s face is, the tension in her neck that makes her tendons stand out sharply, runs down her arms and stiffens her shoulders. Sasha looks _starved_.

How much strength must it be taking her to hold back, with a bleeding wound right in her face? She’s just proven that she can overpower Azu, take what she wants – what’s holding her back?

Maybe Azu’s being naïve, trusting a monster that could be inches from killing her. Or maybe her friend is still in there, behind those black eyes, and she needs Azu’s help.

“Sasha,” she whispers again, and Sasha’s lip twitches, her eyes narrowing. “You… you can. If you need to.”

For a moment, she wonders if her friend can understand her, then Sasha shakes her head, slowly and awkwardly. She doesn’t release her hold on Azu’s arm, but she does draw her head back, just a little, the tendons in her neck pulling even tauter.

“You need this, don’t you?” Azu murmurs, keeping their eyes locked, hoping Sasha can read the care on her face, the trust. “You know I can heal myself – you’re not going to hurt me, not badly, not that I can’t fix. You… you can take what you need.”

A little whine slips from Sasha’s clenched jaw, and now Azu can see her eyes beginning to well up. She shakes her head harder, but she’s leaning in again, eyes flicking rapidly between Azu’s face and her arm.

“Its-“ Azu’s throat clenches; she swallows and tries again, not missing how Sasha’s eyes track the bobbing of her throat. “It’s okay, Sasha. It’s okay.”

There’s a second of suspense, both of them staring at each other – then Sasha lunges.

The impact is enough to set a sharp starburst off behind Azu’s arm, Sasha practically smashing her face into her arm. She doesn’t bite, though Azu can feel the points of her fangs digging into the tender skin around her wound – she just _sucks_ , hard enough to send a searing wash of pain straight to Azu’s spine. Her knees buckle and without leverage she slips to the floor, Sasha following her down.

Oh Gods, oh Aphrodite be gentle, it _hurts_. The hungry dragging at her split flesh is agony, especially once Sasha starts pushing her tongue into the wound, forcing out more blood. Through a staticky haze, Azu remembers reading about methods vampires used to subdue their prey – hypnotism to keep them calm and quiet, anaesthetic venom so they wouldn’t scream or struggle – but she supposes Sasha’s too weak or desperate to use them, if she even knows she can.

Azu bows her head and curls her other arm around her friend, cradling her back where she’s crouched half-on half-over her lap. She clenches her fist in the soft leather of Sasha’s jacket, grits her teeth, and endures.

 _Heal the sick,_ she repeats to herself, forcing the words through her pain-fogged mind. _Assist the needy. Mend the weak. Love comes before all other virtues._

She has no idea how long it takes for Sasha to calm, for the brutal suction to be replaced by gentle pulls and licks. Eventually, the agony fades, and Azu comes back to herself. At some point, she’d mashed her face into Sasha’s hair, and the short black strands tickle her nose, rough and slightly greasy.

The edges of Azu’s vision are beginning to grey out, an empty cold starting to settle over her, so she lifts her heavy arm to Sasha’s head and pulls her away. To her surprise, Sasha goes, thought she does let out a growl that Azu can’t help but describe as _pissy_. Like a stray cat, Azu thinks hazily, angry that it hadn’t finished its meal before being interrupted. That’s a step up from leopard, at the least.

“Sorry,” she mutters, and reaches out to that familiar gentle glow tucked in her heart, lips forming a prayer to her Goddess. Aphrodite answers instantly, flooding Azu’s veins with warmth and driving away the spectres of pain and fatigue. It might be Azu’s imagination, but she could swear that the warmth is… nicer than normal, somehow; that she can catch the faintest hint of myrtle oil in the air. The Heart necklace tucked beneath her shirt pulses softly, like it’s beating, before going still again.

She’s pleased her Goddess, and helped her friend. Despite having the right amount of blood circulating through her body once more, Azu feels like she’s floating.

Sasha grumbles quietly in the back of her throat, shaking free of Azu’s hold to slide further into her lap, curling up there. She starts licking at the newly-healed skin on Azu’s bicep, cleaning off the last remnants of blood, before sucking gently like she’s trying to draw out more.

“Sasha?” Azu asks again, and again gets no answer, just another grumpy little huff at the lack of wound. The fact that Sasha doesn’t seem to have come back to herself is more than a little worrying, but Azu won’t let herself panic; one of them has to keep their head, and it isn’t going to be the half-starved monster.

No, not monster. Probably not monster.

Hopefully not monster.

She doesn’t know how long Sasha fed the first time, how much she took. Then again, that doesn’t really matter – Azu is back to full strength again, she’s got plenty more to give. Aphrodite has seen to that.

Gently, she slips her hand back into Sasha’s hair, and guides her head down to her wrist.

Sasha only resists for a moment, before she realises what Azu is doing. Then she presses her mouth to the thin skin immediately, combing her tongue over where the blood beats hardest. It’s wet, ticklish, and Azu almost giggles at the sensation, at how the predator that had scared her so for a second now seems to be fumbling, unsure how to feed.

“Try-“ Azu’s voice breaks, her throat oddly dry, and she coughs to clear it before speaking. “Try biting down.” Sasha’s eyes flick to her, though she doesn’t lift her head, and there is definitely a proper expression there. Even if the expression appears to be mostly derision, it’s a comfort.

“Come on,” Azu coaxes; she’s beginning to feel like she really is talking to one of the Temple strays. “I’m sure you know how, just… do what feels natural.”

That gets her another look, but then Sasha cracks open her jaw, almost like she’s yawning. Her fangs have dropped lower, past her teeth, and they look wickedly sharp.

She takes Azu’s arm so gently, cold, strong fingers curling over her forearm and wrapping snugly round her palm. Azu takes a deep breath, tries not to let it tremble on the exhale, especially at the first gentle scrape of teeth. Her skin feels electrified, every sigh of Sasha’s cool breath over it magnified a hundredfold.

When her fangs finally catch and sink in, twin needlepoints of pain, Azu can’t help but gasp. In contrast to the first feeding, brutal and messy and agonising, this is surprisingly neat; Sasha’s fangs slide out cleanly, and when she seals her mouth over the punctures and starts to draw on the blood, it seems to flow easy as a spring-swollen river. But of course, she’d bitten on the pulse point; Azu’s own heart is driving her blood into Sasha’s mouth.

Also, she realises as her hand starts to tingle like her lips after a heavily spiced meal, this time she’s got Sasha’s venom in her system. She’d expected more of an anaesthetic effect, a heavy numbness, but instead it’s just… nice. Warm. Soft.

Sasha’s properly cuddled into her now, legs drawn up to her chest and head lolling back onto Azu’s shoulder. She’s brought Azu’s arm with her, keeping her mouth sealed cool and soft around Azu’s wrist, drinking in slow, lazy pulls.

Azu stares down at her, a bit loopy and so helplessly soft she might as well be melting. It’s probably the venom’s fault, but she can’t _not_ care about Sasha right now; this small, vicious predator of a woman, curled up against her chest and taking what Azu had offered. Something about knowing that she’s giving Sasha what she so desperately needed, as vital as food or drink, right from her veins… it strikes a chord in Azu’s chest, deep and resonant.

Her hand’s still in Sasha’s hair, she realises suddenly. She means to let go, of course she does, but instead her fingers start to card through the strands, scratching lightly at Sasha’s scalp.

It may be her imagination, but she’s pretty sure… no, Sasha has definitely started purring. A buzzing hum, low in her throat, pitched just like a cat’s purr and almost hypnotically calming. How curious, Azu had no idea vampires could do that.

She settles in against the wall, letting her eyes fall closed as Sasha feeds quietly. The danger’s over; she can rest, for a little while.

Then there are hands on her shoulder, tugging at her – gentle, but strong enough that she doesn’t really have to do more than get her feet under her and lock her knees straight. A rough voice mutters “What the hell do they feed you in your God schools? You’re all heavy as bloody rocks.” There’s fondness beneath the grumpiness, though, so Azu doesn’t pay much attention.

She hasn’t opened her eyes yet, and she doesn’t really want to. Even though she’s starting to feel worse, dazed and heavy and sort of nauseous, it’s quiet and dark behind her eyelids. Safe. The voice has her, Azu’s sure it does.

“Oi, Azu,” the rough voice says, louder this time, and definitely something Azu needs to reply to.

“Hmm?” she manages – it’s important to be helpful.

“Azu,” the voice repeats, and this time its owner follows up with a sharp poke to the sensitive skin just above Azu’s hip, jolting her slightly out of her haze. “You’ve gotta heal yourself, mate. I dunno how much I- how much you lost, ‘s not safe to just send you to bed.”

That makes sense, Azu can agree, and she shakes her head clear enough to reach out to Aphrodite again. Her prayers probably aren’t nearly so good as they were, but Aphrodite is so smart – is smart the right word? Can a goddess even be smart? – that she understands Azu anyway, and her weary body fills up with light.

This time the warmth is less overwhelming, and she’s still fuzzy, but she doesn’t feel vaguely sick anymore. She just feels… good, all over; the remnants of the fight they’d won weighing down her muscles, a sweet lassitude wrapping around her mind like the aftermath of really good sex.

“All healed,” she says, only slurring a little, and the voice – Sasha, it has to be Sasha – huffs a laugh.

“You sure about that? You still sound pretty out of it.”

“’M sure,” Azu replies, a little offended by the implication that Aphrodite would leave her hurting. “Just sleepy, that’s all.”

“Fair enough,” Sasha mutters, and Azu’s knee comes to rest against something solid. A bed, she realises, as Sasha guides her to sit down, before letting her go. Azu flounders alone for a moment, but then she slits her eyes open – the room is dark, thank Goddess – and she can see Sasha crouching down, She takes one of Azu’s boots in her grip, working it off her foot, then the other.

Azu wriggles her toes, happily, and Sasha’s mouth twitches into a smile. Which is good, Azu thinks, because she looks… sad. Grave, her pretty, scarred face pinched and drawn. That’s wrong, Sasha shouldn’t be sad – that was the point of all of this, for Sasha to feel better.

So when Sasha stands up, Azu snags her around the waist, tugging her back onto the bed with her. She struggles a bit as Azu hauls them up the bed to settle properly against the pillows, but she doesn’t get free, and for Sasha that means she wasn’t trying to.

“Stay,” she mumbles sleepily into Sasha’s hair. “We’ve had a long day, you ‘specially.”

A sharp huff of a laugh, that even in this dizzy warm space, Azu can tell has an edge to it. “ _I’ve_ had a long day?”

“We both have,” Azu says stubbornly. “We need to sleep.”

Sasha wriggles again, but Azu thinks that’s probably just for appearances sake. She settles down after a few minutes, still curled into Azu’s side with only a little more distance between them.

Hazily, Azu remembers when Sasha couldn’t stand to be touched by her, and the warmth she feels a the thought has nothing to do with vampire venom, or her goddess. It’s just… good.

Everything is good, Azu thinks, as she drifts off to sleep to the sound of Sasha’s breathing, regular as a metronome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter - sasha Deals With Things and doesn't like herself much

**Author's Note:**

> the number of chapters is shrugs. the updating schedule is hahahahahahaha.


End file.
